


Breather

by xerampelinae



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Breather Episode, Gen, Nail Polish, Post CATWS
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-19
Updated: 2015-08-19
Packaged: 2018-04-15 12:49:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4607361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xerampelinae/pseuds/xerampelinae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A breather episode during Steve and Sam's search for Bucky Barnes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breather

Steve is pretty sure he's still in the US at this point. Definitely in a hotel: linens chemical-stiff and dry, the air conditioner flushing the room with dry air, and everything else seemingly clean but with the implied dirt tracked in by previous travellers. 

Usually Steve would be more concerned about where he was, especially with the sharper definition his memories now have, but this is not the time to generate lung-tightening anxiety (he still remembers the bronchial spasm, sometimes, still expects it with each deep lungful of city exhaust and smog baked in the muggy summer sun or sharpened by dry winter air).

Nope. According to Sam, they're having a breather episode, which sounds like maybe it's a euphemism (Steve does not have the best track record for deciphering those) but is probably just a code word Steve hasn't figured out yet. Regardless, Sam and Steve have separate beds, and Sam is set up at the tiny coffee table in front of the TV with his wings and Steve is on his bed with his shield.

The maintenance that they're performing is mostly cosmetic; Sam is seemingly checking the components of his wings for microfractures but is actually just kind of babying it and Steve is touching up the shield's paint.

A couple months back, they'd been in a different hotel, and Sam had called down for a couple towels (maintaining a routine was helpful to them, which involved them both taking runs most mornings) before getting a call from his mom. 

Steve had been contemplating the damaged paint (a number from bullets, a few from swords, one from that one time with Thor before things got, well, busy) and hadn't had time to put away the shield before someone knocked on the door. As Steve had fumbled his wallet for a tip, the attendant had suggested salon-grade nail polish, brandished the unchipped coat on their right hand, and exchanged towels for cash before departing quickly and politely. Googling had been somewhat illuminating and ended with a package waiting at the front desk.

While the provided brush was small, it turned out that touching up the shield was pleasantly meditative, and if Steve did a good base and top coat, the design held up better than whatever SHIELD had used. Sam never complained, just made sure the room was well-ventilated and set up his own station with his wings.

By virtue of a steady hand and mostly non-mechanical gear, Steve cedes first rights to the hotel room coffee table. Strict gun and gear maintenance time is traded off and completed first, but breather episode maintenance doesn't necessitate that. 

Sometimes one of the surviving Commandos will check in, usually Jim Morita, as much a firecracker as ever. ("Gabe and Dernier headed back to France together after the war, though they'd pop out on missions with us later. Married as you and the Sarge, those two. I think they took up farming wine grapes for a year before they realized it was too quiet."

"That--that's really something, Jim."

"That couldn't have been news to you, Cap."

"Nah, it's just--Bucky owes me five dollars and a chocolate bar."

"Jesus christ, Cap, I would've thought it would be the other way around.")

It's easier to think about Bucky now, the trail of bodies he leaves somehow comforting. They're sniper's kills for the most part, and though he knows Bucky's skill at close range, the distance he keeps and the histories of his targets feel familiar.

Steve caps the blue nail polish, shuts his eyes and breathes. Soon the base coat will be dry and he can apply the top coat, but for now he listens to Sam hum snatches of Marvin Gaye songs to himself and just sits in the hotel room breathing.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic has been inspired by my desire for chill fic in which nothing of Technical Importance happens and my summer job at a hotel. Anyone who says housekeeping or hospitality is easy has never worked in those industries; the use of salon-grade nail polish comes from a comment one of my co-workers made about finding some at a garage sale and having it be the only kind durable enough to survive work (bearing in mind that we constantly wore nitrile gloves).  
> Also, please be kind and leave tips for your housekeepers.


End file.
